~ Perspective from Vancouver

Fair Trade Zones for City Renters?

It is no news that it is difficult to find an affordable place to rent in Vancouver, and that has been further exacerbated as the housing market has become more and more expensive. This article says what we all know- we need to find a new way to provide affordable rental accommodation for all Vancouverites at all life stages.

As Global News reports Real estate developer Bob Rennie says “we’re not going to solve problems, unless we deal with new models. The old models aren’t working.” Rennie wants the city to create rental-only zones around major transit hubs. Land in those zones would be worth half that of other condo properties, allowing builders to charge lower rent.”

So think of it-a way to increase rental stock would be for consolidated areas around transit stations and hubs to be available at lower cost to developers who would then be required to pass on those savings to their eventual rental customers. Such an undertaking would require an amendment of the Vancouver City Charter and would also preclude local public process and buy-in, including from landowners who would not be making the same gains as they would on real property sold for single family or condo development

As Tom Davidoff from the Sauder School of Business at UBC states “I think what the province needs to do is step up, and revise the municipal charters and say, ‘Sure, you have power over zoning, but if the zoning you implement bans excludes 95 per cent of Canadian from owning a property in a neighbourhood that’s not going to stand a legal challenge.”